Systems and Methods for Non-cellular Wireless Access

ABSTRACT

System and method embodiments are provided for non-cellular wireless access. In an embodiment, a method for non-cell grid based radio access in a radio access network includes determining, by a controller, a group of transmit points (TPs) to assign to a logical entity; assigning, by the controller, a logical entity identifier (ID) to the logical entity, wherein the logical entity ID identifies the logical entity through which a user equipment (UE) communicates with the radio access network; and causing, by the controller, at least one of the TPs in the logical entity to send signals to the UE.

PRIORITY CLAIM AND CROSS-REFERENCE

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/550,362, filed Nov. 21, 2014, and entitled “Systems and Methods forNon-Cellular Based Radio Access in a Radio Access Network,” which claimsthe benefit of the U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/907,271,filed Nov. 21, 2013, and entitled “System Method and Apparatus forNon-cellular Wireless Access,” which applications are herebyincorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a system and method for wirelesscommunications, and, in particular embodiments, to a system and methodfor non-cellular wireless access in radio access networks.

BACKGROUND

For the past 40 years, the cellular cell has functioned as the atom ofthe wireless network, as shown in FIG. 1. A cellular system 100 includesa plurality of transmit points (TPs) 104 each with an associatedcoverage area or cell 102. UEs 106 communicate only with the TP 104 inthe cell 102 in which the UE 106 is associated using an ID specific forthe cell 102. When a UE 106 moves to another cell, a handover betweenTPs 104 must occur and the UE 106 is associated with a new TP 104through a new cell ID. However, radio access performance is limited byinter-cell interference. Further, as shown in plot 200 of spectralefficiency in FIG. 2, there is non-uniform spectral efficiency across acell.

SUMMARY

In an embodiment, a method for non-cell grid based radio access in aradio access network includes determining, by a controller, a group oftransmit points (TPs) to assign to a logical entity; assigning, by thecontroller, a logical entity identifier (ID) to the logical entity,wherein the logical entity ID identifies the logical entity throughwhich a user equipment (UE) communicates with the radio access network;and causing, by the controller, at least one of the TPs in the logicalentity to send signals to the UE.

In an embodiment, a controller for a non-cell grid based radio access ina radio access network includes a processor and a computer readablestorage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, theprogramming including instructions to: determine a group of transmitpoints (TPs) to assign to a logical entity; assign a logical entityidentifier (ID) to the logical entity, wherein the logical entity IDidentifies the logical entity through which a user equipment (UE)communicates with the radio access network; and cause at least one ofthe TPs in the logical entity to send signals to the UE.

In an embodiment, a method in a wireless device for non-cellularwireless access includes receiving a logical identifier (ID) from atleast one transmit point (TP) in a radio access network, wherein thelogical ID identifies a logical entity in the radio access network,wherein the logical entity comprises a plurality of TPs; determining adedicated connection ID according to a wireless device ID and thelogical entity ID, wherein the wireless device sends signals to andreceives signals from the radio access network using the dedicatedconnection ID regardless of which one or more TPs within the logicalentity is serving the wireless device.

In another embodiment, there is provided a method for supporting aconnection between a UE and a wireless network that has a plurality ofTPs that are assigned to a hyper cell. The hyper cell is associated withthe UE and is used to provide the UE access to the wireless networkthrough at least a subset of the plurality of the TPs. The methodincludes receiving an indication that the membership of the hyper cellshould be changed, modifying the membership in accordance with thereceived indication, and transmitting a notification to a TP that isassociated with the modification.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure, and theadvantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptionstaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a cellular wireless network;

FIG. 2 illustrates spectral efficiency of cellular cells;

FIG. 3 is a diagram that illustrates a conversion from a cellular systemto an embodiment of a non-cellular system;

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of a system of components enablingnon-cellular wireless access;

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of a non-cellular wireless accesssystem;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a method fornon-cellular wireless access;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a method for theformation of a UE-dedicated connection ID;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a hyper cell system;and

FIG. 9 illustrates a computing platform that may be used forimplementing, for example, the devices and methods described herein, inaccordance with an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

The making and using of the presently preferred embodiments arediscussed in detail below. It should be appreciated, however, that thepresent disclosure provides many applicable inventive concepts that canbe embodied in a wide variety of specific contexts. The specificembodiments discussed are merely illustrative of specific ways to makeand use the disclosure, and do not limit the scope of the disclosure.

An embodiment solves the interference issue in a fundamental way byremoving the cell boundary to go from cellular to non-cellular, as shownin the example of FIG. 3. An embodiment removes the cell grid. Anembodiment removes handover. An embodiment removes the cell ID which isassociated with a base station, and instead organizes the system arounda user ID associated with the User Equipment. In contrast, the virtualcell or soft cell approach still uses the cell ID to design the airinterface, where user equipment (UE) and transmit point (TP) associationis based on the cell ID detected by the UE.

An embodiment provides an air interface design to support non-cellularbased wireless access. An embodiment uses a UE-centric design instead ofa cell-centric design. An embodiment replaces the cell ID with aUE-dedicated connection ID.

In an embodiment, a virtual UE connects to a logical access entity,instead of a physical UE connecting to a physical cell. A UE accessesthe network through a logical entity, which allows physical TPs to betransparent to UEs.

An embodiment uses network-oriented measurement, instead of UE-orientedmeasurement. Because there is no TP-based cell ID, UE and physical TPassociation can be determined by the network according to uplink (UL)transmission-based measurement.

An embodiment uses a UE-centric adaptive topology instead of a statictopology.

In an embodiment, each TP node monitors each UE in its signal range andthe central controller assigns a TP to a UE based on signal strength ofthe UE at the various TPs within range of the UE. The process istransparent to the UE. Once the UE receives a UE dedicated connection IDor a logical entity ID, the UE transmits with the UE dedicatedconnection ID received or one created by the UE from the logical entityID while in a coverage area of a logical entity that includes aplurality of TPs. In an embodiment, the UE communications with thenetwork include its dedicated connection ID which is generated from alogical entity ID and the UE ID. Any of the TPs (or a subset of TPs) inthe logical entity that can detect the UE can provide radio access tothe UE.

In an embodiment, a method for non-cellular grid based radio access(i.e., non-cell based radio access) in a radio access network includesdetermining, by a controller, a group of physical transmit points (TPs)to assign to a logical entity; assigning, by the controller, a logicalentity identifier (ID) to the group of physical transmit points (TPs)comprising the logical entity; sending, by the controller, the logicalentity ID to a UE, wherein the logical entity ID identifies the logicalentity within the radio access network through which the UE communicateswith the radio access network; and generating, by the controller, aUE-dedicated connection ID according to a UE ID and the logical entityID, wherein the UE accesses the radio network utilizing the UE-dedicatedconnection ID through at least one of the TPs in the logical entity.

The UE-dedicated connection ID remains the same as long as the UE iscommunicating with a TP within the logical entity. Assigning the logicalentity ID to a group of physical TPs includes selecting a group of TPsto serve the UE utilizing a UE-TP association table. In an embodiment,the controller dynamically or semi-statically can change the TPsassigned to the logical entity in accordance with at least one ofnetwork attributes and UE attributes. In an embodiment, semi-staticallychanging the TPs assigned to the logical entity means that the TPsassigned to the logical entity change infrequently. In an embodiment,the TPs assigned to the logical entity change periodically. Thecontroller can make a determination as to whether to change the TPsassigned to the logical entity either periodically or in response tochanging conditions. In an embodiment, the controller makes a decisionas to whether to change the TPs assigned to the logical entityaperiodically in response to changes in network conditions, TP status,or some other criteria. The network attributes may include at least oneof a number of active UEs within the radio access network, networkcongestion, network power consumption, and the type of network traffic.In an embodiment, the controller dynamically determines a second groupof TPs (e.g., physical TPs and/or virtual TPs) to assign to the logicalentity where at least some of the TPs in the original and the secondgroups do not belong to both groups. In an embodiment, the controllerpowers down at least one of the TPs in the group. This may be done, forexample, to reduce power consumption when there are fewer UEs activelyaccessing the network or less traffic through the radio access network.The logical entity can provide wireless access for a coverage area thatis larger than the coverage area for a single TP.

In an embodiment, the controller sends a second logical entity IDassociated with a second logical entity to the UE when the UE travelsout of a coverage area for the original logical entity and into acoverage area for the second logical entity. The second logical entityincludes a second group of TPs where at least some of the TPs in thesecond group are different from at least some of the TPs in the originalgroup (i.e., the second logical entity includes at least onenon-overlapping coverage area with the coverage area of the firstlogical entity).

In an embodiment, the controller generates a UE-TP relation table inaccordance with uplink (UL) measurements from the UE. In an embodiment,building the UE-TP relation table is performed using sounding signalsand/or data signals from the UE. The controller sends control and/ordata to the UE through a UE-centric channel via at least one of the TPsin the logical entity. In an embodiment, the controller assigns one ormore of the TPs in the group to provide radio access to the UE. In anembodiment, the TPs in the group assigned to provide radio access to theUE is determined according to relative signal strength of the UE at eachof the TPs in the group.

In an embodiment, a controller executes a method for non-cellularwireless access that includes receiving measured signal strengths of auser equipment (UE) from a plurality of transmit points (TPs);generating a UE neighborhood table according to the measured signalstrengths and TPs detecting the UE; creating a logical entity ordetermining an identity of a logical entity to serve the UE, wherein thelogical entity comprises a plurality of TPs; selecting one of the TPsfrom the plurality of TPs to provide radio access to the UE; and sendingcontrol information and/or data to the UE via the selected TP(s) througha UE centric channel. In an embodiment, the controller dynamicallydetermines, from the logical entity, a new TP to provide radio access tothe UE in response to a change in relative signal strengths between theTPs in the logical entity. In an embodiment, the controller determinesthe TP(s) that can best serve an individual UE. Depending on thelocation of a UE, sometimes, more than one TP can serve the UEcooperatively. For example, if a UE can receive a strong signal fromseveral TPs nearby, these TPs can transmit the same data to this UE in acooperative manner such that the joint signals reaching the UEsignificantly improve the user experience. In an embodiment, thecontroller dynamically determines, from the logical entity, a new TP toprovide radio access to the UE for load balancing in response to changesin the loads on the TPs in the logical entity.

FIG. 3 is a diagram that illustrates a conversion from a cellular system300 to an embodiment non-cellular system 310. The cellular system 300includes a plurality of a TPs 304 each with an associated cell 302. EachUE 306 connects only with the TP 304 within the cell 302 in which the UE306 is located. Although the UE 306 can receive data signals from morethan one TP, the control signals to the UE 306 can only come from theserving TP 304 within the cell 302 in which the UE 306 is located.

Non-cellular system 310 includes a plurality of TPs 304, UEs, 306, and acloud processor 308. As used herein, the term TP may also be referred toas an access point (AP) and the two terms may be used interchangeablythroughout this disclosure. The TPs 304 may include any componentcapable of providing wireless access by establishing uplink and/ordownlink connections with the UEs 306, such as a base transceiverstation (BTS), a NodeB, an enhanced NodeB (eNB), a femtocell, and otherwirelessly enabled devices. The UEs 306 may comprise any componentcapable of establishing a wireless connection with the TPs 304. The TPs304 may be connected to the cloud processor via a backhaul network (notshown). The backhaul network may be any component or collection ofcomponents that allow data to be exchanged between the TPs 304 and thecloud processor 308 and/or a remote end (not shown). In someembodiments, the network 100 may comprise various other wirelessdevices, such as relays, femtocells, etc. The cloud processor may be anytype of data processing system capable of performing the processesdisclosed below and capable of communication with other devices.

In non-cellular system 310, the TPs 304 are not associated with a cell.The system 310 includes a cloud processor 308 which organizes the TPs304 into logical entities. Each UE 306 is assigned to a logical entityand is assigned a unique UE dedicated connection ID. In an embodiment,the UE can be a mobile phone, a sensor, a smart phone, or other wirelessdevice. The UE 306 may move freely within an area serviced by a singlelogical entity without acquiring a new UE dedicated connection ID. EachTP 304 monitors signal strengths for any UE 306 detectable by the TP 304and sends this data to the cloud processor 308. The cloud processorcreates a logical entity or determines the identity of a logical entityto be assigned to serve each UE according to the measured signalstrengths measured by the TPs 304. This determination can be performeddynamically in some embodiments. The cloud processor 308 assigns alogical entity ID to the logical entity and assigns a UE dedicatedconnection ID to each UE 306 according to the logical entity ID to whichthe UE 306 is assigned and the UE ID of the UE 306. In an embodiment,the UE 306 obtains the logical entity ID from the network and generatesa dedicated connection ID from the logical entity ID and the UE ID. Inthis scenario, the network does not need to assign a UE dedicatedconnection ID to the UE 306. However, in either case, the communicationbetween the UE 306 and the network is based on the dedicated connectionID. This UE dedicated connection ID is used by the UE when transmittingand receiving. The cloud processor 308 selects one of the TPs 304 fromthe group of TPs 304 in the logical entity to provide radio access tothe UE 306 based on its dedicated connection ID. In an embodiment, thecloud processor 308 selects the TP 304 based on relative signalstrengths of the UE 306 at each of the TPs 304 in the logical entityand/or the loads of each TP 304 in the logical entity. In otherembodiments, other selection criteria can be utilized. In an embodiment,the cloud processor 308 dynamically reassigns a new TP 304 in thelogical entity to serve the UE 306 based on changes to the signalstrength of the UE at each TP 304 in the logical entity. The change insignal strength may be due to UE mobility or to other factors.

In an embodiment, the cloud processor 308 can enable or disable one ormore TPs 304 covered by a logical entity to reach a substantially besttradeoff between the service quality provided to all covered UEs 306 andenergy saving criteria.

In an embodiment, the cloud processor 308 determines the TPs 304 to beassigned to a logical entity based on the geographic location of the TPs304. In another embodiment, the cloud processor 308 determines the TPs304 to be assigned to a logical entity based on the user distribution,application types and traffic loads.

In an embodiment, the TPs 304 assigned to a logical entity may bechanged dynamically by the cloud processor 308 according to changes innetwork conditions. For example, at times of low radio access networkutilization, some of the TPs 304 may be powered down to conserve power.At times of higher network utilization, more TPs 304 may be powered upin order to more efficiently serve the UEs 306 in the area and reducecongestion.

In an embodiment, the TPs 304 assigned to a logical entity may beenabled/disabled (e.g., powered on or off) in a distributed manner asdetermined by a TP's 304 measurement of certain parameters (e.g., UEs306 covered by the TP) and the communications between TPs 304.Determining which TP 304 should be turned on or off could depend onvarious factors such as, for example, the UE 306 and TP 304 associationrelationship, UE 306 distribution, the Quality of Service (QoS)required, energy saving, etc.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of a system 400 of components enablingnon-cellular wireless access. In an embodiment, the system includes acloud group processor 402, a virtual Tx and virtual Rx component 404, aHyper Transceiver (HT) component 406, a hyper cell 408, new physical(PHY) channels interface 410, a UE dedicated connection ID component412, and a network oriented measurement system 414 to providenon-cellular wireless access to wireless devices. The cloud groupprocessor 402 provides centralized signal processing. The virtual Tx andvirtual Rx 404 provide UE centric TP optimization and UE centric devicemash. The HT component 406 provides communications between distributedtransmitters and distributed receivers. The hyper cell 408 provides anovel UE and TP association mechanism. The new PHY channels interface410 provide a UE centric PHY channel designs. The UE dedicatedconnection ID component 412 generates a UE dedicated connection ID andprovides a UE connection mechanism. The network oriented measurement 414provides a UL centric measurement scheme.

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of a non-cellular wireless accesssystem 500.

System 500 includes a plurality of TPs 510 and UEs 512. System 500 alsoincludes a controller 508 in communication with the TPs 510. Each UE 512is detectable by some of the TPs 510 (represented by solid lines) andnot detectable by other TPs 510 (represented by dashed lines). Thecontroller 508 uses a UE and TP relation map 502 and a UE-centric TPoptimizer 504 to provide an output of a method to the controller 508.From this, the controller 508 determines a UE-centric control channeland data channel 506. The UE and TP relation map indicates which UEs 512are detectable by which TPs 510 and can, in some embodiments, providethe relative signal strengths of each UE 512 at each TP 510. The UEcentric TP optimization scheme 504 may utilize factors such as relativesignal strength, network load at each TP 510, network power consumption,TP power consumption, quality of service requirements, as well as otherfactors to determine a UE centric control channel and data channel 506.The control channel and data channel may come from the same TP (or TPs)or from different TP(s). The controller 508 also determines which of theTPs 510 should serve a respective UE 512. Membership in the set of TP510 serving a particular UE 512 may change dynamically orsemi-statically over time as determined by the controller 508 inresponse to changing network, TP 510, and/or UE 512 conditions, andtraffic condition. The UE 512 need not know the ID of a particular TP510 that it is transmitting to, but rather merely communicates with thesystem 500 without needing to know which physical TP 510 is actuallyserving the UE 512. Once the UE centric control channel and data channelare determined by the controller 508, the control and data signals aresent to the UE 512. The UE 512 uses its dedicated connection ID which isassociated with logical entity ID for all communication within thenetwork as long as the UE 512 is in the area serviced by the logicalentity. The UE 512 does not need to know which TP 510 is serving it. TheUE 512 merely transmits on the UE centric channel and receives signalson the UE centric channel regardless of which TP 510 transmits. The UE512 may move freely within the area serviced by the logical entitywithout changing a UE dedicated communication ID. The controller 508will change the TP 510 serving the UE 508 dynamically and transparentlyto the UE 510 to accommodate UE 512 mobility.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a method 600 fornon-cellular wireless access. The method 600 begins at block 602 where aTP measures signal strength of a detectable UE. At block 604, the TPreports the measurements to a controller. At block 606, the controllergenerates and updates a UE neighborhood table. At block 608, thecontroller selects the TPs to serve the UE. The TP or TPs selected toserve the UE may be the TP or TPs determined to be the best orsubstantially the best according to various criteria used by thecontroller. At block 610, the controller sends control/data to the UEthrough a UE-centric channel (CH), after which, the method 600 ends. Inan embodiment, the method 600 may be encoded as a set of computerreadable instructions and stored on a computer readable storage mediathat, when implemented by a data processing system, causes the dataprocessing system to execute the method 600.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a method 700 for theformation of a UE-dedicated connection ID. With respect to a logicalentity ID, a logical entity covers a group of physical TPs. The coveragearea of the logical entity can be configured dynamically by the networkaccording to network topology, UE distribution, load distribution, andenergy consumption expectation. Each logical entity is assigned anlogical entity ID 704. The logical entity ID 704 can be used to manageinterference of the transmission of broadcast singling and commoncontrol signaling. It can also be applied to generate synchronizationsignal. For example, the reference signals carried by thesynchronization channel can be generated from the logical entity ID. Themethod 700 combines the UE ID 702 with the logical entity ID 704 togenerate a UE dedicated connection ID 706.

Generation and management of UE dedicated connection ID 706 can enableefficient UE-centric access and measurement, and allow for optimizationof resource allocation, such as UL resource reuse. As discussed above, aUE dedicated connection ID 706 is generated from a UE ID 702 and alogical entity ID 704. A UE obtains a logical entity ID 704 from thenetwork through blind sequence detection during initial access (forexample the detection of Synchronization reference signals), or downlink(DL) signaling. It may be carried by a broadcast signal, carried by acommon control signal, carried by a UE-special signal, for example whenmoving to the coverage of a neighboring logical entity, and the like.

For UE and TP association relation map generation, a UE accesses thenetwork based on a network synchronization channel. The synchronizationchannel no longer needs to carry the cell-ID as in older cellular accessbased wireless technologies. In an embodiment, the synchronizationchannel carries the logical entity ID. Timing for the UE synchronizes tothe strongest path or to the average of the strongest paths.

A UE is assigned a UE dedicated connection ID 706 after initial access.Each TP monitors a UL sounding signal or keep-alive signaling associatedwith the UE dedicated connection ID to obtain signal strengthinformation of the detected UEs. Each TP reports the measurement resultsto the controller. The report can be periodic, or it can be generatedwhen measurements change more than a predetermined amount. Thecontroller generates and maintains a UE and TP relation table includingneighborhood TPs for each UE.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a non-cellular radioaccess system 800. The central controller 802 covers multiple logicalentities 804, 806. Each logical entity 804, 806 include a plurality ofTPs 810. One skilled in the art will appreciate that it is possible insome embodiments for a logical entity to only include a single TP. Thereis a transparent boundary between the coverage of neighboring logicalentities 804, 806. The system 800 supports seamless UE mobility, wherethe UE 808 use the latest received logical entity ID. The UE 808 iswithin the coverage area of logical entity 804 and to logical entity806. In an embodiment, one or more TPs 810 may belong to both logicalentities 804, 806. A hyper cell 812, 814 defines a coverage areaprovided by a logical entity 804, 806. In an embodiment, the coveragearea defined by the hyper cell 812, 814 is equivalent to the coveragearea provided by the combination of TPs 810 in the logical entity804,806 corresponding to the hyper cell 812, 814. In an embodiment, thecoverage area defined by the hyper cell 812, 814 includes an area thatis smaller than all the coverage area provided by the combination of TPs810 in the logical entity 804, 806 corresponding to the hyper cell 812,814.

An embodiment provides a wireless network free from traditionalinter-cell interference. An embodiment provides higher spectrumefficiency, higher network capacity, a fairer UE experience, and lowerenergy consumption. Embodiments may be implemented in wireless networks,such as a fifth generation (5G) wireless network and the like.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a processing system 900 that may be usedfor implementing the devices and methods disclosed herein. Specificdevices may utilize all of the components shown, or only a subset of thecomponents and levels of integration may vary from device to device.Furthermore, a device may contain multiple instances of a component,such as multiple processing units, processors, memories, transmitters,receivers, etc. The processing system 900 may comprise a processing unit901 equipped with one or more input/output devices, such as a speaker,microphone, mouse, touchscreen, keypad, keyboard, printer, display, andthe like. The processing unit 901 may include a central processing unit(CPU) 910, memory 920, a mass storage device 930, a network interface950, an I/O interface 960, and an antenna circuit 970 connected to a bus940. The processing unit 901 also includes an antenna element 975connected to the antenna circuit.

The bus 940 may be one or more of any type of several bus architecturesincluding a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, videobus, or the like. The CPU 910 may comprise any type of electronic dataprocessor. The memory 920 may comprise any type of system memory such asstatic random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM),synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), read-only memory (ROM), a combination thereof,or the like. In an embodiment, the memory 920 may include ROM for use atboot-up, and DRAM for program and data storage for use while executingprograms.

The mass storage device 930 may comprise any type of storage deviceconfigured to store data, programs, and other information and to makethe data, programs, and other information accessible via the bus 940.The mass storage device 930 may comprise, for example, one or more of asolid state drive, hard disk drive, a magnetic disk drive, an opticaldisk drive, or the like.

The I/O interface 960 may provide interfaces to couple external inputand output devices to the processing unit 901. The I/O interface 960 mayinclude a video adapter. Examples of input and output devices mayinclude a display coupled to the video adapter and amouse/keyboard/printer coupled to the I/O interface. Other devices maybe coupled to the processing unit 901 and additional or fewer interfacecards may be utilized. For example, a serial interface such as UniversalSerial Bus (USB) (not shown) may be used to provide an interface for aprinter.

The antenna circuit 970 and antenna element 975 may allow the processingunit 901 to communicate with remote units via a network. In anembodiment, the antenna circuit 970 and antenna element 975 provideaccess to a wireless wide area network (WAN) and/or to a cellularnetwork, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), Code Division MultipleAccess (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), and Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM) networks. In some embodiments, the antenna circuit970 and antenna element 975 may also provide Bluetooth and/or WiFiconnection to other devices.

The processing unit 901 may also include one or more network interfaces950, which may comprise wired links, such as an Ethernet cable or thelike, and/or wireless links to access nodes or different networks. Thenetwork interface 901 allows the processing unit 901 to communicate withremote units via the networks 980. For example, the network interface950 may provide wireless communication via one or moretransmitters/transmit antennas and one or more receivers/receiveantennas. In an embodiment, the processing unit 901 is coupled to alocal-area network or a wide-area network for data processing andcommunications with remote devices, such as other processing units, theInternet, remote storage facilities, or the like.

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, many existing mobilenetworks are built around a cell-based structure. As a mobile devicemoves from one cell to another, the device is subject to a handoverwhich introduces overhead in the network. At the edge of one cell, a UEis subject to intercell interference from adjacent cells. In aparticular scenario a UE at the boundary of two cells can be subject tolarge amounts of intercell interference and possibly repeated handoversbetween the two cells.

Fast moving UEs, in areas covered by small cell deployments, aresubjected to a large number of handovers in short time periods whichadversely impacts both the network and the UE's ability to maintain areliable data connection.

To address these issues, the above described techniques can be used toenable a mobile wireless network where a UE initiates a connection, andin response, a central entity associates a plurality of transmit pointswith the UE. This plurality of transmit points can be based on a UE-TPassociation table that is built based on individual TPs reporting signalcharacteristics associated with transmissions received from the UE. Itshould be understood that the logical entity created to co-ordinate theactivities of the plurality of transmit points associated with the UEcan be given a number of different names including a hyper cell. Atleast one TP in the hyper cell should be able to transmit signals to andreceive signals from the UE. It should be recognized that in practice itis likely that a number of TPs in the hyper cell will be able to “see”the UE, which should be understood to mean that the TP can form a radiocommunication channel with the UE. It should also be understood that thehyper cell can include TPs that cannot currently see the UE. This allowsthe UE to move a greater distance while still being under the coveragearea of the hyper cell.

As a UE moves, the channel characteristics to different TPs in the hypercell will change. A central controller can use this information (whichmay include explicit location information provided by the UE such as GPSco-ordinates or location information ascertained in accordance withdetection of radio resources such as base stations and WiFi accesspoints) to modify the membership of the hyper cell. This allows anetwork entity to remove TPs that the UE is unlikely to need access tofrom the hyper cell and add other TPs that the UE has a higherlikelihood to need access to. In one example, as a UE moves along aroad, TPs that the UE is moving away from can be removed from the hypercell while TPs that the UE is moving towards can be added to the hypercell.

By having multiple TPs that can see the UE as a part of the same hypercell, intercell interference can be mitigated by co-operatively servingthe needs of the UE. Additionally, by having the membership of the hypercell change as the UE moves with respect to the topology of the network,the number of handovers that the UE is subjected to can be reduced, andpossibly eliminated.

One skilled in the art will appreciate that modifications to themembership of a hyper cell may be performed as a result of predictedchanges to characteristics of UE connectivity. For example, it may bedetermined by a network planning routine that a particular TP should bepowered down to save energy. When the TP to be powered down isidentified as part of a hyper cell serving a particular UE, the hypercell membership can be modified and the TP can be removed from thelogical entity. In doing so, network traffic associated with the UE willno longer be routed to the TP. This can be done prior to the poweringdown of the TP so that adverse effects on connected UEs can beminimized. Although discussion herein has focused on powering down a TP,any Operations And Maintenance (O&M or O&AM) function.

Additionally, where it has been discussed that a hyper cell membershipcan be changed due to the removal of a TP for service or power savingsfunctions, it should also be noted that hyper cell membership can alsobe modified in response to a TP being powered on (or in response toadvanced notice that a TP is going to be powered on).

When a UE attaches to the network, the hyper cell created to serve theUE can be assigned an identifier. The UE can be provided an identifierof the hyper cell so that it can include this identifier will alltransmissions it sends. It should be recognized that the assignedidentifier should be unique across the network (globally unique). The UEmay receive either all or part of the hyper cell identifier, but incases where it only receives a portion of the identifier, the UE shouldbe able to programmatically determine the whole identifier. Thoseskilled in the art will appreciate that the assigned identifier will beglobally unique if it includes a UE identifier which is guaranteed to beunique.

It should also be understood that although the above described methodsallow for an elastic hyper cell which can be used to eliminatehandovers, it is also possible for a network to make use of the elastichyper cell, but to also define boundaries that will result in the UEneeding to be handed over to a new hyper cell. Such a transfer mayrequire handover processes, and the resulting network would still have asomewhat cellular nature.

While this disclosure has been described with reference to illustrativeembodiments, this description is not intended to be construed in alimiting sense. Various modifications and combinations of theillustrative embodiments, as well as other embodiments of thedisclosure, will be apparent to persons skilled in the art uponreference to the description. It is therefore intended that the appendedclaims encompass any such modifications or embodiments.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: obtaining, by a userequipment, an identifier of a cell in accordance with detection of asynchronization signal, wherein the identifier of the cell is common toa first plurality of transmit points in a coverage area of the cell; andcommunicating, by the user equipment, with the first plurality oftransmit points based on the identifier of the cell.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: obtaining, by the user equipment, acombination of the identifier of the cell and an identifier of the userequipment; and communicating, by the user equipment, with at least onetransmit point of the first plurality of transmit points based on thecombination.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein a serving transmit pointin the first plurality of transmit points is determined transparently tothe user equipment.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifier ofthe cell is not associated with a physical cell only covered by onetransmit point of the first plurality of transmit points.
 5. The methodof claim 1, wherein the identifier of the cell is a first identifier,and the cell is a first cell, the method further comprising: receiving,by the user equipment, a second identifier of a second cell when theuser equipment moves into an area covered by the second cell, the secondidentifier being different from the first identifier and being common toa second plurality of transmit points in the area covered by the secondcell; and communicating, by the user equipment, with the secondplurality of transmit points in accordance with the second identifier.6. The method of claim 5, further comprising: obtaining, by the userequipment, a second combination of the second identifier and theidentifier of the user equipment; and communicating, by the userequipment, with at least one transmit point of the second plurality oftransmit points in the area covered by the second cell based on thesecond combination.
 7. The method of claim 5, wherein the secondidentifier is not associated with a physical cell only served by onetransmit point of the second plurality of transmit points in the areacovered by the second cell.
 8. A user equipment, comprising: aprocessor; and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storingprogramming for execution by the processor, the programming includinginstructions for: obtaining an identifier of a cell in accordance withdetection of a synchronization signal, wherein the identifier of thecell is common to a first plurality of transmit points in a coveragearea of the cell; and communicating with the first plurality of transmitpoints based on the identifier of the cell.
 9. The user equipment ofclaim 8, the programming further including instructions for: obtaining acombination of the identifier of the cell and an identifier of the userequipment; and communicating with the at least one transmit point of thefirst plurality of transmit points based on the combination.
 10. Theuser equipment of claim 8, wherein a serving transmit point in the firstplurality of transmit points is determined transparently to the userequipment.
 11. The user equipment of claim 8, wherein the identifier ofthe cell is not associated with a physical cell only covered by onetransmit point of the first plurality of transmit points.
 12. The userequipment of claim 8, wherein the identifier of the cell is a firstidentifier, and the cell is a first cell, the programming furtherincluding instructions for: receiving a second identifier of a secondcell when the user equipment moves into an area covered by the secondcell, the second identifier being different from the first identifierand being common to a second plurality of transmit points in the areacovered by the second cell; and communicating with the second pluralityof transmit points in accordance with the second identifier.
 13. Theuser equipment of claim 12, the programming further includinginstructions for: obtaining a second combination of the secondidentifier and the identifier of the user equipment; and communicatingwith the at least one transmit point of the second plurality of transmitpoints in the area covered by the second cell based on the secondcombination.
 14. The user equipment of claim 12, wherein the secondidentifier is not associated with a physical cell only served by onetransmit point of the second plurality of transmit points in the areacovered by the second cell.
 15. A non-transitory computer-readablemedium storing computer instructions, that when executed by one or moreprocessors, cause a user equipment to perform operations of: obtainingan identifier of a cell in accordance with detection of asynchronization signal, wherein the identifier of the cell is common toa first plurality of transmit points in a coverage area of the cell; andcommunicating with the first plurality of transmit points based on theidentifier of the cell.
 16. The non-transitory computer-readable mediumof claim 15, the operations further comprising: obtaining a combinationof the identifier of the cell and an identifier of the user equipment;and communicating with the at least one transmit point of the firstplurality of transmit points based on the combination.
 17. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein a servingtransmit point in the first plurality of transmit points is determinedtransparently to the user equipment.
 18. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the identifier of the cellis not associated with a physical cell only served by one transmit pointof the first plurality of transmit points.
 19. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the identifier of the cellis a first identifier, and the cell is a first cell, the operationsfurther comprising: receiving a second identifier of a second cell whenthe user equipment moves into an area covered by the second cell, thesecond identifier being different from the first identifier and beingcommon to a second plurality of transmit points in the area covered bythe second cell; and communicating with, by the user equipment, thesecond plurality of transmit points in accordance with the secondidentifier.
 20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19,the operations further comprising: obtaining a second combination of thesecond identifier and the identifier of the user equipment; andcommunicating with the at least one transmit point of the secondplurality of transmit points in the area covered by the second cellbased on the second combination.